SUV Review: 2013 Ford Flex AWD

Calgary's Terry Degerness test drove a Ford Flex, which he says grew on him as he drove it more.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Driver's Journal road test of 2013 Ford Flex.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Ford Flex.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Driver's Journal road test of 2013 Ford Flex.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Driver's Journal road test of 2013 Ford Flex.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Driver's Journal road test of 2013 Ford Flex.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Driver's Journal road test of 2013 Ford Flex.

PHOTO: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

By Robert K. Rooney, Calgary Herald

Originally published: December 18, 2012

SMALL

MEDIUM

LARGE

Flexibility is a good thing. As Ford’s last van, the Freestar, approached the age when it needed to be replaced, the company decided that people were pretty much over the whole van thing. What was needed, they decided, was a change – something that had the internal capacity of a van but that looked more like an SUV – what is now called a crossover. For the 2009 model year, Ford brought the Flex to market.

Built in Oakville, Ont., the Flex shares its platform with Ford’s Taurus and Explorer models and comes in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. There is a third row of seating, making the Flex a seven-seater, and it offers up to 4,500 pounds of towing capacity. Power for the Flex comes from one of two versions of Ford’s 3.5L V6. The base Duratec engine makes 285 horsepower and 255 pound/ feet of torque. The twin-turbo EcoBoost version pumps out a very stout 355 horsepower and 350 pound/ feet of torque. Notably, the torque peak occurs at only 1,500 rpm.

After testing the 2013 Ford Flex, Terry Degerness was able to form a conclusion about the crossover’s target market.

“Ideally, I think it should be aimed at somebody like me,” says the 43-year old married father of two preadolescents. “It’s basically a minivan without the stigma and regular doors instead of sliding doors.”

Big, family vehicles aren’t strange to Degerness, who says he learned to drive on the family station wagon. His own first car, though, was a Mercury Capri, which was followed by a VW Pas-sat and a Ford Escort before he got into what he calls “a raft of SUVs,” including an Explorer and a Yukon. At present, Degerness drives an ’03 Dodge Ram 1500 and the family hauler is an Acura MDX that replaced a van.

“Since I got rid of the Pas-sat, vehicles have always served a purpose for me,” Degerness explains. “I have the truck because I have a trailer. We had a minivan for quite a few years. You don’t really enjoy a minivan, but I appreciated the space and functionality.”

He jokes that he struggles with his practical inner self that says, “That’s good enough – which is why I’ve had a succession of vehicles that were good enough but not exciting.”

When the Flex first came out, Degerness says, it reminded him of the old woodie station wagons that he always had a soft spot for. As for the vehicle he actually tested, “I wasn’t that excited once I saw it and that was just the colour scheme. I’m not an overly flashy kind of guy,” he claims. With its blue body, black top and black wheels, the Flex AWD Limited model, he says, grew on him after a week.

With a long torso and relatively short legs, Degerness, a six-footer, says he almost always struggles to find a comfortable driving position in almost every vehicle.

“I felt comfortable without making any adjustments,” he says. “This was as close as I’ve come to having a comfortable wheel position and a comfortable seat height. Everything was where I wanted it to be. I could see quite a ways around me. I didn’t feel like I had blind spots.”

Many of the controls on the Flex are grouped in a central console, he says, and he liked the way the touch screen worked. The GPS he calls, “straightforward and easy to use.”

The heated second row seats in the Flex were popular, Degerness says, especially after hockey practice. His two children, 11 and 9, found the third row relatively roomy, he reports.

“I crawled back there and I had the impression that I could sit back there,” Degerness says. “The seats were more than comfortable enough.”

The large windows and skylights helped make the third row an acceptable place to travel. He showed the second row to people at work, too, and says “they were quite surprised. They thought there was quite a bit of room back there.”

With the third row folded, Degerness says he was able to get four hockey bags in the back of the Flex, “and it wasn’t jammed to the ceiling.” Both the second and third rows fold flat, he says, except for the second row console, which sticks up and prevents the Flex from having a completely flat cargo area behind the front seats. Along with the vehicle’s colour scheme, this was Degerness’s main quibble with the Flex.

Driving the Flex in town, Degerness says, “I didn’t need a lot of time to get a sense of where the car was. You got a good sense of where the corners are. It has a nice ride height to it, more like a car than a van, but I didn’t feel that I was underneath traffic.”

The rear-view camera left Degerness with some mixed feelings. “I like the camera, but I find I get lazy just staring at a TV screen and maybe not looking around enough – but, man, is it easy to park with those things.”

It’s even easier to parallel park, he says, because the Flex can do that itself. “That was a trip and a half,” he enthuses. “It was brilliant.”

On a highway trip to Cochrane, Degerness says, the Flex was very quiet.

“It seems to push through the air quite smoothly,” he says. “The ride was really smooth.” Degerness says he isn’t someone who goes off on Sunday drives, but he enjoyed the trip to Cochrane in the Flex so much that he took a longer excursion than he originally had intended.

“Anything I wanted to pass, I could pass. It has a lot of jump to it,” he says, praising the EcoBoost’s power and adding that his impression is that the Flex still produced good fuel economy. The engine was one of the two things about the Flex that Degerness liked most about the Flex, along with the vehicle’s size and functionality.

“I don’t have anything negative to say about the car,” he sums up.

“I think any family should take a look at it. If you can get past the brick-like exterior of it, you’ll be surprised. It’s not a minivan and it’s not a station wagon and it’s not an SUV. It’s something in between. It exceeded my expectations for space, for practicality, for driveability. I was definitely optimistic and the car didn’t let me down.”

Driver’s Journal

Day 1: Picked up at Universal with Ivan. Nice size, feels a bit like the van inside. Seems like I can sit properly and still see the instrument cluster without moving the steering wheel too high. Very peppy, smooth ride. Very good visibility all around me. Kids love the ambient lighting changes.

Day 2: Loaded the car up with some boxes, found the middle console in the way when you fold down the two rows of seats. Nice stereo system, touch screen makes it very easy to use. Doors have a funny curl at the bottom that scoops back under the car. Not sure if this helps interior noise, but parking next to a snow bank, made me worry it will cause problems

Day 3: Drove to Costco and bought groceries, used the split rear fold down seats to load into the car. Lots of room and the split kept everything from rolling around. Drive to Cochrane, seems much quieter inside than any of my other cars, very little road noise.

Tried the paddle shifting on the highway. Used voice commands for all features. Touch screen/Sync has a great help feature to help you find what you want to do. Ask it “what can I say” and it will list common commands and such. At least as much as voice commands understand me – they don’t always get what I say.

Day 4: Loaded up my son and two teammates and took them to their game. They love the fact you can change the interior lighting colours. All three liked the ride. Room to spare even with the hockey bags in the back. Love the remote start on nights/days like this, although never could get the heated seats to come on the remote start. Ambient temperature was not low enough – is an AUTO setting.

Came home and tried out the auto parallel park setting. Perfect. If I had to parallel park like that every day, would get this option.

Day 5: Drove downtown to take pictures with the Herald. Snowing all day, AWD was very sure footed, very smooth acceleration and shifting. Tires might be too low profile for winter, but I’m used to a truck. Ride home was cold, heated seats could be a touch warmer, highest setting of 3, could have been warmer.

Day 6: Another snowstorm and traffic snarls to take the car back to Universal. GPS kept me on track, as traffic was backed up everywhere (GPS let me know if there were delays in front of me). Roads were very slippery in some sections, judging by the cars around me.